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Spectacle Lenses
We invite you to experience the standard we set in the Seattle metropolitan region for expertise and selection in ophthalmic lenses. Each of our licensed opticians personally tests advancements in lens brands and features for meaningful innovations that best suit your expectations of lens functionality, and durability. As part of over 2,000 Vision Source-affiliated private practices in North America, we have access to a vast array of lenses that simply cannot be attained by smaller optical venues at competitive prices.
Lenses and Lens Features Terminology
Anti-reflective. (AR) coatings improve your vision by significantly reducing annoying ambient reflection on the back surface (toward your eye) of lenses. They enhance your appearance by eliminating reflections from the front surface as well. AR coatings are recommended for virtually every prescription and lens type due to their optical-enhancing characteristics. Because scratches in AR coats become even more noticeable, higher quality AR coatings also contain scratch resistant and “oleophobic” (resistant to skin oils, making it easier to clean) properties. We have selected Viso non-glare lenses due to their excellence in function and durability.
Without Antireflective With Antireflective
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Aspheric Lenses. Aspheric lenses permit thinner designs through advanced design technology, which results in a slimmer lens profile. Especially useful for farsightedness by reducing weight and thickness, these lenses are also useful in reducing thickness and optical aberrations with nearsightedness. Occasionally, aspheric lenses may cause blurry vision when looking away from the center of the lens. Nonetheless, aspheric lenses offer outstanding cosmetic, comfort, and optical benefits
Non- Aspheric Lens Aspheric Lens
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Bifocal and Trifocal. Since the advent of Progressive Add Lenses (PAL’s), bifocals and trifocals are rarely recommended due to their obtrusiveness visually and cosmetically. Nonetheless, bifocals are still occasionally recommended. For example, bifocals are useful for bicyclists and others who benefit from wrap-around sportglasses to protect their eyes. Surgeons who require goggles or faceshields will also benefit from this feature. Likewise, for those who fare poorly with PAL’s, bifocals or trifocals are another alternative that offers a wider reading area.
Bifocal Trifocal
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Computer Lenses. PC users who wear Progressive Add Lenses (PAL’s) or bifocals often complain of eyestrain, and/or neck and shoulder pain due to the “chin-up” posture required to view their monitor. Computer lenses are advanced-design PAL’s which enable the wearer to comfortably view their monitor in a proper ergonomic posture, yet provide good vision across the room, as well as at closer reading distances. Quickly becoming a very popular lens option, we have personally tested and recommend the recently released Varilux Computer Lens for its superior optical qualities.
Without Computer Lenses With Computer Lenses
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High Index. The index of refraction of a lens describes its efficiency at focusing light. The higher the index, the less material is needed, and the thinner and lighter the lens will be. There are a variety of high index lenses available, tailored for moderate to high prescriptions. High index lenses are also very impact resistant.
While many high index lenses are also aspheric, not everyone is suited to wear them due to bothersome blur when looking away from the center of the lenses. Our licensed opticians are trained to diagnose such problems and are able to customize high index lens designs to exclude asphericity when indicated.
 
High Index Lens Conventional Plastic Lens
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Photochromic. Photochromic lenses change from light to dark and back again depending upon their exposure to UV light. Whereas Photochromic lenses were once only available in glass lenses, current lenses are available in a wide array of plastics (high-index, Trivex, etc.) that turn gray or brown. Photochromic lenses are also 100% UV absorptive and are available with polarization as well.
 
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Polarized. Polarized sunglasses filter out glare and reflections off of flat surfaces, making them an attractive lens feature for virtually everyone who treks outdoors on sunny days. Driving, fishing, golf, and lifeguarding are but a small sample of activities where polarized lenses add significant visual comfort over conventional sunglasses. We recommend polarized lenses with antireflective coating to further enhance optical quality.
Without Polarization With Polarization
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Progressive Add Lenses (PAL’s). Often referred to as “no-line bifocals,” PAL’s eliminate the line from bifocals and are also much easier to use and adapt to. PAL’s are one of the top-selling lens types today for their superior cosmetic appeal and improved visual comfort as our Baby Boomer population ages. Accordingly, there is a host of PAL brands, designs, and features now available. “Hard,” older designs contain a more abrupt transition between the reading “sweet spot,” and the lower side area of the lens. Newer advanced designs incorporate high-definition digitally surfaced lens technology, which widens the usable reading area, and enhances overall visual comfort by mitigating the peripheral distortion and blur that are inherent in older PAL’s. We have had tremendous success with Vision Source’s proprietary TruClear HD PAL.
Progressive Add Lenses
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Scratch Resistance. Because plastic lenses are highly susceptible to scratches, scratch resistant coatings – as the name implies – renders the lenses more resistant to scratches from normal use. Unless otherwise requested, all lenses sold at Broadway Vision Source have scratch resistant properties. Many higher prescriptions requiring special lens grinding will result in removing the scratch resistant coat from the back surface of the lens (where the power of the lens is ground). Unlike many optical stores, our Board-certified opticians will always make sure that the coating is re-applied to assure more comfortable and durable lenses for you.
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Trivex. Trivex lenses are extremely light and strong, and have supplanted older polycarbonate lenses due to their superior scratch resistance and optical quality. Approximately ten times more impact- resistant than conventional plastic lenses, Trivex lenses are also thinner than conventional plastic and are attractively priced. We recommend Trivex lenses for those with moderate prescriptions seeking lightweight lenses.
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UV Protective. Whereas ultraviolet protective treatments of the past would cause lenses to stain yellow, modern UV treatments leave no such blemish. UV has been implicated in such ocular diseases as “snow blindness,” cataracts, macular degeneration, and lid cancers. Although most Pacific Northwesterners receive very little UV exposure, UV lens treatments are recommended for sun-loving outdoors-persons such as skiers, sailors, mountaineers, and kayakers.
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